I woud strongly recommend getting decent tyres and going on an Academy course at heyford... I have never been scared of my S in the wet since then and I do push her. Learned alot about the affects of weight ditribution etc too so I now understand what I should and should not do rather than just remember it parrot fashion....

But then again alot of the track tuition I have had has helped alot too.

 

This is the 1st summer I've had the S.
I had a 'scary' moment earlier today too, 'scary' because although I recognised its been wet after hot weather I didn't expect the car to zig zag down a straight road approaching v-tec - my heart did 200bpm. Must say I was really lucky cause I took my foot off the gas.
If it were winter I'd have been ready.
Be careful out there!

 

In this kind of situation, yes.

The 2 things that cause the rear to do this on a roundabout are too much throttle and that the front and rear wheels are pointing in different directions.

What many people try to do is to steer into the skid, but if you're not used to going sideways, you will over compensate I guarantee, therefore inducing what is commonly referred to as a tank-slapper (where the car suddenly grips ar the rear, then violently swings back in the opposite direction), turning a minor slip into a potential disaster.

Let go of the wheel and the steering will self-centre - therefore stopping the car wanting to go in a direction it's rear wheels aren't pointing.
Let go of the throttle and there will be no forces acting backwards on the rear wheels, allowing them to use all their grip to stop the sideways slide.

ONLY use this method when the problem is caused by too much boot though, the usual lift-off oversteer caveats apply to higher speed stuff.

 

the well known "tank slapper" as capably demonstrated by me at the last Academy Day - too much right foot in a hairpin, bit of a wiggle which I overcorrected, escalated into a big ole tank slapper, car span off in the opposite direction landing in a field!

 

We all managed multiple 'tank slappers' at the 1st Lotus day most fun and a good way to understand backend movement. The 1st Lotus day really does concentrate on losing the backend and what to do and what not to do, with plenty of 1-on-1 tuition, but its not a how-to-get-the-backend-out training course!!

 

That takes balls

 

It is when you've been about 5 times

 

[QUOTE=baptistsan]That takes balls

 

I'd disagree with letting go of the throttle completely, that can mess you up completely depending on the circumstance. A lot of spins aren't just because of steering but also because they completely back off the power, weight transfers to the front wheels and the rears lose grip even more.

Think I need to go on a 1st Lotus day though. Just for some arse out action.

 

Not at the speeds we're talking about. the slide was induced by too much power, removing it completely isn't likely to shift enough weight forwards to make the condition any worse, but definitely will remove the cause of the loss of traction in the rear wheels.

As I said, the caveat is that at higher speeds, lifting off is not recommended.